Foot measure



April 28; 1925. A 1,535,996

w. T. GoLDsMlTH FOOT MEASURE Filed Sept. 6, 1922 TTORNEYS Patented Apr. 28, 1925,

WOLF T. GOLDSMITI-I, .OF NEWARK, NEW J'ER-SfllY.`

Foor MEASURE.

`Application filed September 6, 1922. Serial N'o. 586,509.

To all whom t may concern.'

Beit known that I, four T. Gonnsiirrir', a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essexand State of New Jersey, have invented a new and ln'iproved Foot Measure, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description.

practical foot 'measure of lightweight and great compactness, and in that direction particularlyaims to provide a type of construction whichmay be manufactured at nominal cost even` when made throughout of metal parts as is preferred, and in agreement with such preference, an important feature of the present invention. e Itis a fact well-appreciated thatheretofore such measures have been bulky constructions, mainly made of wood which have becoineunreliable in action, if not impossible of use, after a very short time of service, due to the loosening of the` parte, the wearing away of the calibrations on the main member, and the inability to hold the traveller set long enough after disengaging a human foot from the measure to permit a precise and dependable reading of the measurement actually indicatedbefore such disengagement.

e The present invention has for its particular object` to provide a novel foot measure construction whichwill'have all the advantages first noted hereinabove, which will overcome all the-disadvantages encountered, as just described, in previous foot measures, and which in addition will present in such construction simple means whereby with the calibrated arm of the inain member of the measure preferablyexisting as a single barlilre arm and not a plurality of plates as heretofore, `the traveller and such arm carry coacting parts including particularly a special device carried by the traveller'. This de.- vice comprises a shoe or scraper member spring-urged to travel along the arni in a certain constant relation thereto to frictionally hold the trave-ller in any adjusted position on the arm, but with such device so designed that long continued use of the foot measure will not decrease the ability of such holding means to function as predetermined. At the same time, preferably, such holding means and the other parts are so designed that calibration wear is totally eliminated This invention relates to foot measures, and more `particularly aims to` provide a as the result of the scraping or sliding action of such .shoe or as the result of a movenient at anytime of any part of the traveller over any part of the arm..

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following` description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, showing preferred but merely illustrative embodiments of the invention.

In this drawing i Figure l is a side elevation of thepreferred embodiment, certain ofthe parts `being partially shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. l;

Fig. Sis a transverse section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary modification;` and A i Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal .section taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 4.

Similar reference characters refer to simiview showin g a usual, 'the main member carries near one Vlar parts throughout the several views of end' an upstanding shorter arm 6b, which i constitutes a fixed `marker and against which one end of a foot to be measured is set with ther foot resting on the horizontal calibrated surface of arm 6a, so that the traveler 7 mayv be slid along arm 6 until the traveller touches lightly the other end of the foot. e e y e However,`it will be seen that the general appearance of the foot measure here disclosed is very'different from those heretofore suggested. The elements 6, 6b and 7 are shaped as illustrated, to give at once great strength, lightness and compactness, especially when made of aluminum, as is preferable. It will be noted in 'this connection that the dimensions of all of said elements are very much less than in the familiar wooden constructions heretofore proposed the present construction incidentally providing for the first time al wholly metal i calibrated margins. This bottom extension 7a includes recesses, as shown best inv Fig. 3, whereby the traveller is mounted for sliding along the arm but so as to permit free vertical play of the traveller on the arm were a plunger 8 and a spring 9 not mounted on the traveller, as now immediately to be described.

Said plunger, as well as the spring 9, which latter is an e-Xpansible coil spring, is housed, as shown, in an upwardly extending open bottom recess 10, so arranged that the axis of the plunger is directed vat an angle to a horizontal surface of the calibrated arm and further so arranged that such axis is always -o-ver the, center line of the calibrated arm. Such plunger is here the shoe or scraper member above-mentioned.

The plunger carries at its bottom a terminal projection 8*L formed as a rib arranged transverse to the plunger, as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3, this rib running in a groove 9 cut in the upper side of arm 6a when the traveller is moved along said arm. This groove is closed at opposite ends and thus forms, incombination with the plunger, a means for locking the traveller on the arm (in and for limiting the back-and-forth sliding movements of the traveller on the arm.

Arm -Ga may also carry at one-end an eye formation 11 to permit the entire measure to be hung from a convenient nail or hook when not in use.

The rib 12 on arms 6a and 6* is, of course, provided-only for reenforcement of the main member 6; and may be .dispensed with particularly as to the arm 6a, so that the horizontal undersurface of said arm will be plane like its upper surface, in which case, of course, it is recommended that the arm Ga be, of greater thickness. The provision of such a plane undersurface yfor the arm 6a might indeed 'be very advantageous in those cases where I elect to carry out my invention by redesigningthe parts within the scope of the invention to locate the recess, which houses the spring 9 and plunger S, on traveller 7 but in a part of the latter below the horizontal undersurface -of arm 63. By horizontal surfaces of said arm I mean vplane surfaces which are horizontal when the foot measure is held as shown in Figure l.

Referring to the modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the elongated arm of the main member is illustrative of a construction of the kind indicated in the last paragra ah. The plane undersurface thereof is indicated at Gc in Fig. 5. Consequently this arm defines in cross-section a rectangular figure. The traveller 11 of Figs. 4 and 5 is exactly like the traveler 7 of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 except that the recesses in the side portions of `bottom extension 7a of the traveller 7 are combined to form merely a rectangular opening in the bottom extension 11a of traveller ll for the convenient accommodation of the calibrated arm of Figs. 4 and fof rectangular cross-section. It will be seen further that any groove like the groove 9 of Fig. 1 is dispensed with; and accordingly while a spring 13 and a plunger 14 like the spring and plunger of Figure 1 are utilized in connection with the traveller, the bottom of plunger 14 is iiat to ride flat along the upper surface of the calibrated .a1-m. The modification in Figs. 4 and 5 differs ,finally from that of Fig. l in that the .sliding movements of the traveller are limited at the end of the calibrated arm shown in Figs. 4 and 5 by a stop stud 1 5 projecting above the upper surface of the calibrated arm. It will, nevertheless, be noted that preferably such opening in the bottom extension 11CL of the traveller 11 as shown clearly in Fig. 5, is of a larger vertical dimension than the vertical thickness of the calibrated arm pursuant lto the same theory of construction employed inthe case of the embodiment in Fig. 1.

The theory of Vconstruction just referred to and which is deemed a highly important, if not the most important feature of the present invention, is carried out by an arrangement of the parts (including especially a particular location of the plunger and its line of application to t-he calibrated arm, and the manner in which the end of such .plunger which acts against said arm, is permitted to protrude slightly beyond the traveller before acting to spring-press the traveller transversely of the arm, which action is permitted by providing for the slight vertical play between the calibrated arm and the traveller), whereby no portion of the traveller nor any part carried by it is ever in contact with Ithe calibrations on the arm over which the ktraveller slides. Thus by the provision merely of a traveller loosely engaging the calibrated arm as described, with such traveller including a movable scraper or shoe part, as the spring-pressed plunger illustrated, and with such scraper or shoe member arranged to contact the calibrated arm always along a median longitudinal portion of the arm, a foot measure is provided in which long use and comparatively great wear of the parts will neither destroy the ability of the traveller to remain frictionally but securely fixed at any selected adjustment relative to the calibrations, nor cause said calibration themselves to become eifaced or diminished iti legibility in any degree whatsoever.

Ifwould state in conclusion that while the illustrated examples constitute practical embodiments of my invention, I do not limit myself strictly to the exact details herein-illustrated since manifestly' the in` vention may be variously structurally modilied Without departure from the spirit thereof as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

A device of the character described comprising `a bar-like measuring member having a groove `in its upper face extending longitudinally thereof, said member having a scale extending on its upper face along said groove, a marker block having a transverse opening therethroughl loosely receiv-` ing said measuring member, the bottom Wall of said opening having a groove extending longitudinally thereof, a rib on the lower side of said measuring member engaging with the groove in thelovver Wall of said opening to hold said measuring member against any appreciable lateral oscillation relatively to said measuring member, and a spring pressed plunger carried by said marker block in sliding engagement with said groove in the upper face of the measuring member for spacing said marker block from said scale and tending to hold said marker block in adjusted position along said measuring` member. 

